Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31206
Hints and tips by Smylers
Happy Easter from Ilkley, where for once the sunrise was actually visible at our Easter Day Son-Rise service by the Cow & Calf rocks:
(Click to enlarge.)
Spouse and I also enjoyed seeing the band James in Leeds on Saturday night. Both were good, though the combination of the late night and the very early alarm for a pre-dawn walk up Ilkley Moor wasn’t ideal. (I was on the only member of the household to participate in both events.)
I found today’s Telegraph Crossword harder than usual for a Monday: in the time I’d finished last week’s, I had fewer than half the answers for this one. Though maybe that was largely tiredness from the above-mentioned activities, and you will solve this much faster?
Hints and explanations for are below, with the answers hidden in the blobs labelled Well done!. Comments are most welcome at any time of day, and they especially welcome from those who have been reading for a while but not said ‘hello’ before. See Big Dave’s etiquette guide for the house rules.
Across
1a Stupid pot belly’s back (5)
DOPEY: We start with a slang word for something that ‘pot’ can also be a slang word for. Follow it with the letter at the back of ‘belly’.
Pic credit: Iris Hamelmann
4a Vital the writer’s left with a set of books (9)
IMPORTANT: Enter in turn: how the writer of this crossword could say “the writer’s”, in the sense of ‘the writer is’, using a pronoun for themselves; a word that can mean ‘left’, particularly on a ship; the A from the clue; and some usual books.
9a Horrible idiot boyfriend returned grand (9)
REVOLTING: A word for an idiot and what a boyfriend (or indeed a girlfriend) may be are concatenated and then returned to read from right to left. An abbreviation for ‘grand’ is appended to the lot.
10a Celebrity holding India’s instrument (5)
SITAR: Make a word for a celebrity hold inside it the letter represented by ‘India’ in the Nato phonetic alphabet.
11a Break in ceremony limiting telepathy? (7)
RESPITE: Make a (typically religious) ceremony limit (by containing) the initialism for a type of telepathy.
12a Annoyed, Newton calmed down without having succeeded (7)
NETTLED: Start with the symbol used to represent Newtons in physics. The rest is a word meaning ‘having calmed down’ but without the letter that indicates ‘succeeded’ in genealogy.
13a Heartless fury in power cut (6)
OUTAGE: Think of a synonym for ‘fury’ then make it heart-less by removing its central letter.
15a Relative bored by academic publisher’s release (8)
UNCOUPLE: We need the initials of a partcular book publisher associated with a university, then to make those bore into a relative.
18a I censor a different summary of play (8)
SCENARIO: Put the letters of ‘I censor a’ in a different order. I didn’t know this word that this specific meaning regarding plays, in addition to its more general meaning.
20a Old country record about odd bits of rustic area (6)
PERSIA: Start with a usual record and turn it about so its letters are backwards. Follow with the odd letters of ‘rustic’ and the abbreviation for ‘area’.
23a Lived among fish, crouched in fear (7)
COWERED: The ‘lived’ here is a synonym for a form of the verb ‘to be’ — it’s irregular, so there’s a few options to try. Not as many as there are species of fish though, one of which goes round the outside.
24a Using reason, artificial intelligence takes in senior religious figure (1,6)
A PRIORI: The answer is a Latin phrase, formed by the abbreviation for artificial intelligence taking inside it a head monk.
26a Firm made up for losing face (5)
TONED: Here we need a word meaning ‘made up for’ in the sense of having made amends for. Though now I think about it, the word in question is also generally followed by ‘for’, so possibly it just means ‘made up’ — can anybody account for the ‘for’ in this clue? Anyway, make it lose the letter at its face (presuming that it’s facing left) to get the answer.
27a Zeus’s daughter paid her to, strangely (9)
APHRODITE: Putting the letters of the 3 preceding words in a strange order spells out the name of somebody from Greek mythology, who I’m presuming is Zeus’s daughter.
28a Prods mum to fill in second name for representative (9)
SPOKESMAN: Start with the symbol for seconds and end with the abbreviation of ‘name’. Fill the space between those with synonyms of ‘prods’ and ‘mum’.
29a Sheep extremely restless in vessels (5)
EWERS: Follow the word for a partcular gender of sheep wth the extreme letters of ‘restless’. The vessels aren’t ships.
Down
1d New doors mark development sites (9)
DARKROOMS: Put the letters of ‘doors mark’ in a new order to get the answer — not a building site, but the location where another specific type of development occurs. Or used to occur; it’s mostly digital these days.
2d Quiet avenue son covers in flags? (5)
PAVES: Insert in order abbreviations for indicating that music should be quiet, ‘avenue’, and ‘son’. The definition is a verb.
3d Unknown relation scratching head, shouting (7)
YELLING: The first letter is one often used to indicate an unknown value in maths. For the rest we need a word for ‘relation’, and presumably I’m not the only solver who spent some time thinking of family members? But we need ‘relation’ in the sense of ‘oration’ or the relaton of a story to an audience. Scratch off its head letter.
4d One grows flowers (6)
IRISES: Start with the Roman numeral for ‘one’ and follow with a verb which can mean ‘grows’ or ‘gets bigger’.
5d Badly paining a composer (8)
PAGANINI: Keep spelling ‘paining a’ badly until the letters turn into the name of a composer. I couldn’t find a classical video of their work which didn’t give their name away in its title, so here instead is a related guitar battle:
6d Part of dinner is Ottoman dish (7)
RISOTTO: Thank you to today’s setter for this clue, which for me was particularly straightforward because we are indeed having this dish for dinner today! Find it lurking in part of words in the clue.
7d Perhaps gazelles asleep, not jumping around (9)
ANTELOPES: Make the letters of ‘asleep not’ jump around to spell out the answer.
Pic credit: amod2008
Sorry, I couldn’t find a photo of gazelles sleeping.
8d Weary and tense, anger beginning to dissipate (5)
TIRED: Insert in order: the abbrevation for ‘tense’ in grammar; a word for anger; and the beginning letter of ‘dissipate’.
14d Wrestling take-down grips old martial art (3,4,2)
TAE KWON DO: Wrestle with the letters of ‘take-down’ and make them grip the abbreviation for ‘old’.
16d They test former American pit workers (9)
EXAMINERS: Insert in order: a prefix indicating ‘former’; an abbreviation for ‘American’; and a word describing those who work down t’pit.
17d Clean energy source success Democrat very much misunderstood at first (4,4)
WIND FARM: Enter in order: a success; an abbreviation indicating a Democrat in American politics; a word that can mean ‘very much’ (or a great distance); and the first letter of ‘misunderstood’.
19d Cut down river crossing, having advanced earlier (7)
ABRIDGE: Most of the answer is the word for something that can be used to cross a river. Earlier we need to put the abbreviation for ‘advanced’.
21d Nearly sober, lacking any boundaries, you might get this pierced (7)
EARLOBE: Take the first two words from the clue and make them lack boundaries by removing the first and last letters from each of them. What’s left is our answer.
22d Conservative remains popular, making profit (4,2)
CASH IN: Insert in order: an abbreviation for ‘Conservative’; something that remains after a fire; and the usual word for ‘popular’.The definition is a verb.
23d Refers to views on the radio (5)
CITES: The answer sounds like a word for views as it might be heard on the radio.
25d Yellowish-green river leaves boy wanting more (5)
OLIVE: Make the abbreviation for ‘river’ leave the name of a boy famous for wanting more.
Quickie Pun
In today’s Quick Crossword the first 3 clues are italicized, indicating we can say their answers out loud to make another word, name, or phrase. Reveal the blobs below to check or to see the video:
TIE + GRR + FEAT = TIGER FEET
Recent Reading
I hadn’t heard of this book from 1970 till Spouse bought it for me from, appropriately, a second-hand bookshop in London. But I see it’s been adapted multiple times, including as a film for which Anne Bancroft won a Bafta award, so quite likely many of you already know of it.
If you don’t, I can recommend 84 Charing Cross Road as a light, endearing, whimsical, memoir told through letters between an American book-lover and staff at Marks & Co, a second-hand bookshop at the titular address in London (hence the “appropriately” in the previous paragraph). Helene Hanff writes charmingly, and the letters give a flavour of life in New York and London during the mid-20th century. The first letter is from 1949, so rationing and the unavailability of certain items crop up among the correspondence.
Unusually, the book is now published in a form which includes its own sequel, a follow-up about the publication of the first book. This is most satisfying, meaning the reader doesn’t have to wonder about what happened next. If you are tempted to read 84 Charing Cross Road, avoid the blurb on the back. I did by pure chance, and it was only when reading it later I discovered it contains a significant spoiler for something that happens in the middle.
I didn’t get on with today’s puzzle but that is down to me not thinking straight. I have a raging cold, cough and feel awful. I can see I would have enjoyed it had I been feeling better because it was a well-constructed puzzle.
Thank you, setter and Smylers.
Hope you’re feeling better soon, Steve. Nothi g worsse than having a streaming cold when everyone is enjoying the Bank Holiday
Thanks, CC.
Thank you, MTF.
Get well soon, it sounds like a horrid illness.
It seems quite a few of us found this harder than expected today, Steve, so you may actually have done better than you think!
Hope you’re feeling better soon. Take care.
Good of you to say so, Smylers but, as I’ve been a zombie all day, I doubt it. 🥵
A gentle romp in crosswordland for a bank holiday Monday. I liked 20a, 27a and 29a, but cotd goes to 24a. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
A game of two halves forme. The right hand side went in easily but it was hard to get into the left side of the puzzle. I thohught 1d was a good cryptic definition, the anagrams at 14d and 27a were good fun and iblike the geographical clue at 20a. Thanks to the compiler and to Smylers for the hints
I agree with you – NE went in as quickly as I could write. SE corner was my Bermudan Triangle with a number of wrong ‘uns spoiling the fun. 24A raised a smile as I had encountered such a religious figure at an Easter Ceremony over the weekend. Coincidence or what?
That’s great, Conall. Thank you for sharing the picture.
1*/3*. Light and fun, just right for a Monday.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
1.5 /3.5* Trickier than your average Monday. Needed Smylers to explain 3d and hadn’t heard of 24a but had to be.
Favourites today include 7d gazelles, the 14d martial art and the excellent yellowish green at 25d
Thanks to setter and Smylers
Also nice to see Mud, one of my first singles !
Fairly challenging today but it is a bank holiday so plenty of time to relax in the sun with the crossword.
2*/4*
24a/25d last to fall. Initially tried to insert friar into 24a which hindered 25d somewhat.
9a, 1a and 25d favourites
Thanks to Setter and Smylers
I agree with Smylers that this was a tad more difficult than is expected for a Monday, but accessible nonetheless
My favourite for no reason is ‘using reason’ at 24a.
Many thanks to the setter and Smylers
1*/3*
A nice enough start to the week with nothing to niggle the nags other than 24a that took me into the CET.
I squirm when I hear 15a as it reminds me of the oh so cringy Gwinny.
I’ve just seen how many children Zeus sired. That thoroughbred certainly got around!
I’ve noted 14d as I’ve never seen it as three words.
My podium is 24a, 26a and 7d.
MTTT SAS.
2*/3*
Who is Gwinny?
Gwyneth Paltrow?
Agreed about 14d. Never ever seen it as 3 words in English or French. (And I write a weekly newsletter about their activities in our sports club here in frogland) and both the Koreans (originators) and Singaporeans have it as all one word.
Enjoyablje puzzle nonetheless, so thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
I spotted it was one word in the dictionaries I checked (but I don’t have a Big Red Book, and that’s what setters usually follow, so I’m guessing it’s 3 words in there) — but being enumerated (3,4,2) was helpful: I got it straight away just from the starting letter, which I don’t think would have done if it had been listed as a single word.
What is it in Korean? Indeed, what kind of writing system does Korean use? An online translator tells me it’s ‘태권도’, but I’m too ignorant to know whether that’s one word of 3 letters or 3 syllables, or 3 separate words.
The Crimson Tome does indeed show it as (3,4,2) translating it as Kick (Tae) Fist (Kwon) Method (Do).
‘CET’, Tom?
I do enjoy your playful terminology and writing style, Tom, but it’s appreciated when you’re also understandable!
No problem, S.
People tend to work out my nonsense most of the time but not seeing this one is fair enough as it’s pushing it.
CET is Central European Time, i.e the next time zone which 24a took me into.
Ah, that is what I immediately thought of on seeing CET — but I failed at working out the relevance, so presumed it was a ‘Tom Special’ abbreviation (Cruciverbalists’ Extra Time, maybe?). Apologies.
However … I’m going to pedantically point out that as CET is 1 hour ahead of GMT and the UK is currently in BST, which is also 1 hour ahead of GMT, your metaphor doesn’t work anyway because the time would be exactly the same!
(France and the like are still an hour ahead of the UK, of course — but that’s because when the clocks changed they switched from CET to CEST.)
I wouldn’t look into it too much, S. It’s just a bit of fun.
It’s like when you corrected Daisy when she told her splendid joke about commentators.
You can, of course, do what you want but my advice is to let little details go when someone is playing around.
Hey, overanalysing things is one of my main sources of fun — don’t take that away from me!
This it true. I take it back.
Let normal service resume.
You’re doing a splendid job as a blogger, btw.
Very enjoyable puzzle (some were “doh” moments when the penny dropped
1d I’m looking at you) listening to Van Morrison’s fabulous latest album 🎸
I liked it a lot too. He’s going to be 81 in August & no sign of his voice giving up like so many that carry on past their sell by date.
15, 24 and 28a on the odium today as I am today for putting the crossword before gardening and making coffee. No change then to 56 years of married life.
It was very accessible and fairly clued so many thanks to the setter and Smylers.
I’m with Chiscross in finding the LHS a tad trickier than the right & with the view that the puzzle overall was more demanding than recent Mondays. A brisk completion nevertheless with the only real head scratches the twigging of the contexts of pot at 1a & relation at 3d. No particular fav but enjoyed the solve.
Thanks to the setter & to Smylers.
I thought the surface of 5d was a little strange.
I’ve never heard of something “paining” someone (when used as a gerund).
Anyway, thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
Enjoy Easter Monday everyone!
I’d imagine that playing one of their pieces out of tune could badly pain a composer?
Yes, but I have never heard a sentence using “paining”..
More likely ‘it pains me/him/her to hear about the etc etc’ and not ‘it is paining me…”
How about,” His arthritis is paining him today.”
This was a step up in difficulty from our usual Monday offering. Thanks to the setter and Smylers.
The surface of 23a seemed a bit odd.
I liked 13a and 22d.
Like for others, the right side went in quicker than the left and the development site at 1d was my favourite clue once the penny had dropped. My last in was 27a, which I should have spotted sooner although I’m not wholly convinced that even better known characters from the Greats make good anagram solutions. Thanks very much to the setter for an enjoyable puzzle and to Smylers for the usual splendid hints and blog.
Not my best day – an answer but a failure to parse is frustrating (in particular on a Monday) and I had to resort to Smylers hints for 3d, an obvious answer but could not see the relation. The expression in 24a was new to me and, when it’s not your day…..12a, I took “succeeded” (won) out of Newton to leave “net”, which fitted the checkers but left me high and dry! For causing absolute mental chaos 12a is my COTD.
Thanks to the setter and Smylers
If it makes you feel any better, Graham, I was exactly the same with 3d and also had to resort to having it explained to me before I hinted it!
Fortunately I knew 24a from AS philosophy & ethics classes (half of an A-Level in RE), though I’m not sure I’ve used it since.
Cracking puzzle for a Monday, I bunged the Latin in and then thought “oh that’s what it means”
I am sure you will enjoy 84 Charing Cross Road, I did many years ago and regularly visit CCR when in London, there are still some fine bookshops there but regrettably #84 is now a Macdonalds. Check out the Anne Bancroft Anthony Hopkins film too, it is very good
Having not done well with the last 2 crosswords it felt like the marbles might be dropping out of the bag. Today seemed straightforward and a much needed revival. In fact I thought that we had been let off lightly because of the Easter holiday. It just shows how different people can react with different setters and not to get disheartened by a bad day. Enjoyable . No great standouts but all very welcome. Thanks all round.
This was a game of two halves and it was harder than a “normal” Monday offering.
The northern section went in easily enough but I struggled with a couple in the south.
20a never heard the latin expression .. should have paid more attention in class.
26a … re Smylers comments .. I read it simply as I atoned = I made up for.
I’m also missing the point made above re 15a and Gwyneth Paltrow .. maybe Steve will come to my rescue.
Thanks to setter and Smylers for the hints.
Hi BE
When she separated from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, she used the expression ‘conscious un*****ing.
Not her finest moment.
.. thanks for that …who knew eh? I can now rest easily … Coldplay … that’ll be a theatrical work performed in the high Arctic! 🤣
We love it!
I thought this was a fairly steep step up in difficulty from that which we have come to expect on a Monday, but the rewards and sense of achievement are that much greater as a result. For a favourite I went for 7d.
My thanks to our setter and Smylers.
A nice Easter Monday puzzle to start off the week. Couple of head scratchers, but nothing too obscure in this one.
1.5*/3.5*
Favourites 10a, 13a, 29a, 1d, 5d & 14d — with winners 29a & 1d
Thanks to setter & Smylers
Enjoyable ** bank holiday fun with great illustrations from Smylers
Somewhat towards the upper end of Monday difficulty – 1.5*/3.5*
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 15a, 28a, 1d, and 4d – and the winner is 1d.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
Tougher than some Mondays but still very enjoyable. 1d my favourite and I needed the hints to understand the parsing of 3d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
Thanks Smylers and setter. Re 26a “made up for” = Atoned minus the ‘a’ was how I parsed it. 25d favourite as it raised a smile.
What I was trying to say in my query about 26a is that in sentences like “They made up for eating all the Easter eggs” if I make the replacement as you describe, they become “They atoned eating all the Easter eggs” — which feels like it needs the ‘for’ leaving in it.
I can easily make ‘made up for’ equal ‘atoned for’, and therefore ‘made up’ equal ‘atoned’. But not ‘made up for’ and ‘atoned’, if that makes sense?
Thanks to the Setter and Smylers for the hints. Not heard of 24a. Otherwise nothing to obscure and a relatively quick solve. COTD 9a. LOI 24a. Attempted to do this outside but quickly retreated from the cold wind.
Lovely start to the week. Quick solve for me. */***. Yet I struggled so much with last Fridays toughie which was graded quite easy. I often seem to get my rating very different from our blogger. Thanks for the blog.
You’ve shortened your alias so this needed moderation. Both versions will work from now on.
Hi, Saracen. Toughie ratings are on a separate Toughie scale, so a low Toughie rating indicates being easier for a Toughie, not easy in general, and certainly not as easy as a backpager with the same rating.
Today’s possibly wasn’t really 3-star for difficulty for most people, but it was harder than puzzles to which I’ve recently given 2 stars, and the last time I tried to use a half-star it turned out the symbol didn’t display for many people and created confusion, so I rounded up to 3.
For anybody interested, this is how I personally try to rate crosswords I’m blogging, but obviously this whole thing is subjective and other bloggers will have their own methods and whims:
★ — I filled in most of the across answers on the first pass (so without requiring any crossing letters), finished the whole puzzle swiftly without any assistance, none of the answers were things I would consider obscure, and none of the wordplay included elaborate multi-stage processing. Or it fell in the next category but only because of anagrams, which most solvers seem to find straightforward (but for me are often the hardest clue type to solve). I’d happily suggest this crossword to a complete beginner.
Example: last Monday’s puzzle by Heron (which I see was also rated ★ by Falcon, who blogged it)
★★ — I finished the whole puzzle swiftly but either I didn’t get many answers on the first pass or there’s at least one clue which has either a less-well-known answer or intricate wordplay; or the whole thing was steady to solve with nothing particularly tricky, but overall I was closer to a typical time than a particularly swift one.
Example: Saturday’s Prize Puzzle by Twmbarlwm. I know for certain I didn’t make use of any assistance, not even for anagrams, because I unusually printed it out on paper for the train to and from the James gig. I got back home to my computer still on the ‘print puzzle’ page and discovered that the timer had been going the whole time we were out, so it’s recorded that it took me over 6 hours to complete that crossword!
★★★ — I got very few answers on the first pass, or I slowed down after initial answers and completion took an above-average time, or it contains clues that I needed help with either answering or parsing
Example: Today’s.
★★★★ — Dunno: I blog on Mondays, so hopefully I’ll never need to use this level!
★★★★★ — No idea. If you see me rating a crossword with this many stars, please send help.
Really enjoyable Monday puzzle. Like others I have never heard of 24a. Also due to a misspelling in 14d I had trouble unravelling the anagram in 18a.
My favourite today may be 20a just because I like the word . However must give COTD to 10a for it’s simplicity
Definitely heavy going for a Monday but North gave the smoothest ride.. Needed help to parse 20a, 28a and 3d. Not sure about very much in 17d. 26a was last in. Enjoyed surfaces of 1d and 2d – makes a a change from setters filling in with endless anagrams! TVM Setter and Smylers.
Agree with Smylers ***/*** but enjoyable none the less 😃 Favourites 11a, 1d & 4d. Thanks to Smylers especially for the music and to the Compiler 🤗 The anagram at 27a jumped out at me but I am not sure that Aphrodite was a daughter of Zeus 🤔
Zeus and Dione according to Homer.
Pretty difficult all the way through for me. Biffed in 14d and misspelled it without checking what letters it should have had in, schoolboy error. Guessed the academic publisher only to find i was actually right and had to check 24a as I didn’t even do French let alone Latin at school a fact in always beating on about, the only time it’s held me back is in crosswords. Enjoyed the challenge. Several contenders for favourite but I’ll go with 11a. Thanks to the setter and Smylers
I’m. Autocorrupt again.
I didn’t do Latin either, but fortunately 24a came up in RE. Our 13yo is doing Latin GCSE. When they are dong vocabulary practice, it’s interesting how many words I can guess because they have English or French cognates (even if they aren’t the main word used in English) — so I’m guessing we’ve all picked up a smattering of Latin, even without knowing it!
Exceptionally late on parade today; too much travelling. This took a few minutes longer than a normal Monday crossword; it was not difficult but some clues required a bit of work. 24 and 26 across an 8 down are my top picks. 15a was LOI . Many thanks to the setter and Smylers.
A late one for me too , as I had forgotten that I had 2 clues left to complete the grid from earlier. Just looked at them now and got them straight away as is often the case when you take a break. One of those was the yellowish green boy wanting more , an excellent clue ! I also found this more tricky than the usual Monday so was glad to see others did too. A nice solve though. Thanks to the setter and Smylers.
Ouch, if that’s Mondays now, I’ll be giving them a miss. I was struggling with some other issues and after getting just two answers at first I decided life was too short.
Hi, BusyLizzie. I don’t think there’s any reason to presume that all Monday crosswords will be like this! We’ve had a run of easier crosswords that several people commented on being like Mondays used to be, so I think it’s more likely they’ll continue mostly like that but with an occasional harder one thrown in, rather than there’s been a sudden change of policy since last week and every Monday is going to be this hard from now on!
3*/3* …
liked 3D “Unknown relation scratching head, shouting (7) “